a sizeable solution to "fit" user needs and increase customer satisfaction
One of my early assignments at MARS was to rewrite the existing user guide for the medical archival records system. Most of the system's users were doctors, technicians, nurses, and med students. The existing manual was 8 1/2" x 11", paper back, roughly 50 pages long, and GBC bound. I was told early on that I had my work cut out for me because no one read the manual.
I wondered about that. The writing wasn't bad and there were plenty of examples. Veterans in the company told me the main reason people didn't use the manual was because it was too big. It simply wasn't convenient to carry. I soon learned that in a medical environment anything that doesn't fit into a lab coat pocket usually gets left behind.
One day, while passing by a room full of med students collecting blood during a blood drive, I spotted several lab coats laid over the back of a chair. I pulled a dollar bill out of my pocket, and using it as a ruler, took some rough measurements of the pocket.
Later, I broached an idea to my manager: The manual would be laid out in landscape format measuring 4" x 8" enabling it to fit into a lab coat pocket, and the binding would be spiral wire so the manual could be opened and laid flat. He supported the idea.
I also added color-coded blocks along the page edges to quickly differentiate the chapters and correspond to a colorful, high-level topics diagram on the cover. The cover art resembled the colorful lines painted on hallway floors in the hospital serving as paths through the hospital's major departments.
Over 4,000 copies of the new manual were printed. Following an initial distribution to users, phone calls came in to the help desk requesting more manuals. People were asking for manuals!
The manual was regarded as a success. I was just happy to know people were using them.